... Claude Lévi-Strauss. Lévi-Strauss was asked to give a little speech to the group, and begins with:

"Montaigne said that aging diminishes us each day in a way that, when death finally arrives, it takes away only a quarter or half
the man. But Montaigne only lived to be fifty-nine, so he could have no
idea of the extreme old age I find myself in today" - which, he adds,
was one of the "most curious surprises of my existence." He says he
feels like a "shattered hologram" that has lost its unity but that still
retains an image of the whole self.

I've
been having a go at Jim Holt's popular book "Why does the world exist?
An existential detective story." After three chapters of fascinating
quotes from famous ancient and modern philosophers and scientists I
skipped to the epilogue, and found a striking account given by the
author of attending a small party at the Collège de France in
celebration of the ninetieth birthday of Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Lévi-Strauss was asked to give a little speech to the group, and begins
with:

"Montaigne
said that aging diminishes us each day in a way that, when death
finally arrives, it takes away only a quarter or half the man. But
Montaigne only lived to be fifty-nine, so he could have no idea of the
extreme old age I find myself in today" - which, he adds, was one of the
"most curious surprises of my existence." He says he feels like a
"shattered hologram" that has lost its unity but that still retains an
image of the whole self.

Lévi-Strauss goes on to talk about the "dialogue" between the eroded self he has become -le moi réel- and the ideal self that coexists with it -le moi métronymique.
The latter, planning ambitious new intellectual projects, says to the
former, "You must continue." But the former replies, "That's your
business - only you can see things whole." Levi-Strauss then thanks
those of us assembled for helping him silence this futile dialogue and
allowing his two selves of "coincide" again for a moment - "although,"
he adds, "I am well aware that le moi réel will continue to sink toward
its ultimate dissolution."

What an incredible
description of what we experience as we continually loose our brain
cells during aging: a receding shadow of the richness of the world once
integrated by their antecedent and larger ensemble.